Equip a sickle cell community lab in Cameroon

Introduction
In March 2017 FJK Foundation lauched a three phase project to equip a community sickle cell project in Cameroon's North West Region. Phase I - Conversion of an existing room into a laboratory; Phase II - Equipment Installtion and Testing; Phase III - Implementation. This progress report describes Phase I activities .

Space to be utilized
The allocated room is a 30 square meter space in a FJK Foundation owned sickle cell center. There are two windows on opposite walls without shutters, a rough concreted floor, cement plastered walls, secured door and no electricity.

Activities
A counter top to serve as work space is being constructed from concrete pillar bricks with a tiled surface. Water supply and drainage pipes have been completed along with the required sinks. Floor tiling is completed using 60 x 60 cm ceramic tiles.Tile quality was selected to withstand heavy traffic and facilitate cleaning. Elctrical outlets, switches and wiring are completed. The two windows without shutters now have shuters reinforced by iron bars to minimize risk of break in.

Eager to use the facility
There is a completed section of the lab that can be used for collecting blood samples. Esther and Perpetua (shown in picture) are the first beneficiaries of one of the many anticipated services to be provided out of this community laboratory.

Pictures and adjustments
The pictures show the progress of the work. In the initial project conception primarily focused on equipment purchase and installatiuon. But we quickly realized the space needs to be properly setup to be secured, have water, electricity, etc,, hence adjusting the plan, which also affects budgeting.

Phase I is in final completion stages and expected to be completed by July 28, 2017.